October 2025 Monthly Letter

Dear Reconcilers,

This month contributing writer, Mike Feazell defines what true hope is and where to find it when life seems uncertain.

Hope in Dangerous Times

When the world trembles – under the weight of wars, pandemics, political upheaval, or personal loss – fear often takes the front seat. It speaks in the middle of the night and whispers worst-case scenarios in the morning light. But it’s exactly in these moments, when the darkness threatens to close in, that hope becomes more than just a virtue. It becomes a lifeline.

Hope isn’t optimism dressed in denial. It’s not pretending that things aren’t hard. Hope is real precisely because it faces reality. And in facing it, it dares to trust that the story isn’t over.

Theologian Robert Capon once said, “The world is saved only in hope.” And that hope, at its core, is anchored not in outcomes we can predict or control, but in the person of Jesus Christ – the one who stepped into our broken world and refused to let it define the end of the story.

Scripture doesn’t shy away from dangerous times. The Bible is honest about fear, despair, and catastrophe. The Psalms often cry out from the depths of suffering. The prophets speak into times of national trauma. The New Testament writers lived under persecution and threat. Yet they speak with a confidence that defies their circumstances. Paul, writing from prison, said, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair … struck down, but not destroyed. (2 Corinthians 4:8-9).

How? Because he was convinced that God is faithful, even when everything else falls apart. That’s the kind of hope the gospel gives. Not the hope that things will always flow smoothly, but the hope that nothing – not even death – can separate us from the love of God in Christ. 

Hope isn’t about clinging to false peace. It’s about living in a deeper peace that holds us even when we feel like letting go. It’s about knowing that God isn’t just the God of good times. He is the God who walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death. 

And hope doesn’t just look forward. It acts in the right now. It gives us the courage to be kind when anger is easier. To be generous when scarcity tempts us to hoard. To stand for justice when silence feels safer. Hope doesn’t retreat. It leans in.

In dangerous times, fear tells us to close ranks and protect ourselves. But hope opens us up. It reminds us that we belong to one another, that every act of love is a defiant stand against despair, and that the Spirit of Christ is at work in the rubble, bringing resurrection.

Yes, these are dangerous times. But they are not hopeless times. Because Christ has already gone before us – into suffering, into death – and emerged on the other side with new life in his hands. That’s our hope. Not a denial of danger, but a promise that danger doesn’t get the last word.

—J. Michael Feazell